North Korea boasts of laser-guided rockets as new anti-tank weapon

Kim Jong-un reportedly ordered mass production of the anti-tank guided weapon to deploy it at the front-line units and coastal defence units.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un (C) visits a long-range artillery unit in the western sector of the front line March 11, 2013 in this picture released by the North"s official KCNA news agencyReuters

North Korea claimed Saturday it had a new anti-tank weapon that could turn even special armoured tanks and cars of the "enemies" into "boiled pumpkin." Kim Jong-un himself watched the test-fire of the laser-guided rocket, the state media said, even as the country faces the prospect of tough sanctions from the United Nations.

This comes as the latest such claim of military achievement by the isolated nation, which is often dismissed by critics as exaggeration. Last month, North Korea said it had tested a hydrogen bomb.

"He noted with great satisfaction that even the special armoured tanks and cars of the enemies which boast their high manoeuvrability and striking power are no more than a boiled pumpkin before the anti-tank guided weapon", the Korean Central News Agency said Saturday.

The North Korean media described the weapon as having the "longest firing range in the world" and "as accurate as a sniper's rifle". Kim reportedly ordered mass production of the anti-tank guided weapon to deploy it at front-line units and coastal defence units.

The reports come even as the resolution of sanctions against North Korea is likely to be adopted by the United Nations Saturday, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

The sanctions, proposed by the United States to the UN Security Council, will entail a ban on supplies of aviation and rocket fuel to North Korea, mandatory inspection of all cargo going to or from North Korea to look for illicit goods, as well as a ban on any item that could be used or modified for military purposes.

The sanctions are a response to North Korea's rocket launch earlier this month, which it claimed was to put a satellite in space, but is believed by critics to be a testing of ballistic missile technology.